In Act II, Waldo Emerson refers to Henry Thoreau as his walking ethic. What do you think he means by this?

Waldo Emerson means that he admires Henry Thoreau because Henry Thoreau has done something that Waldo Emerson wants to do. This conversation between Waldo Emerson and Henry Thoreau occurred in "The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail" play by Robert Edwin Lee and Jerome Lawrence. The story is about an event where Henry was jailed because he refused to pay the poll tax.